Beyond the Void: an unofficial Omega Octant rules discussion

The last of the five sample empires from the FC Omega Playtest Rulebook, the Trobrin Empire is seldom far from the top table, in terms of power and influence within the Octant.

The Trobrin themselves are a silicon-based life form, which in their most basic state resemble an unformed blob of freshly-poured blob concrete. However, they possess a great degree of control over their outer surfaces; allowing them to suitably handle the innumerable tasks required of any species running a star-faring civilization. As with the former Tholian Will back in M81, the Empire is tasked with a long-term "Silicate Plan"; in order to survive and prosper as a species, the Trobrin aim to eventually control the entire Milky Way Galaxy. Of course, powerful as they are, the gap between this vision and reality is all too apparent, even to them; still, even if things seem quiet on the Trobrin front from time to time, none of their "carbonite" rivals can afford to be complacent in their dealings with the Empire.

The Trobrin navy is a strong advocate of the min-max setup; not all that far away from how the Klingon Deep Space Fleet was run in the days prior to the General War. The Trobrin have frigates and patrollers, but no destroyers or light cruisers; they make the jump all the way up to the heavy cruiser class, before continuing on to their even larger command cruisers (which are practically battlecruisers in their own right) and dreadnoughts.

Their ships are big for their respective classes, with large amounts of hull boxes (in FC and SFB) and copious belts of armour. (Unlike the kind of armour that the Fed CL or Romulan War Eagle use, Trobrin armour comes as distinct belts, that can be removed or replenished with relative ease; indeed, since the Trobrin consume rocks as their staple diet, they even have the option of using the belts as a secondary food source, when out on long-range patrols across Imperial space!)

Their firepower all stems from their high natural resistance to radiation; which allows them to tolerate levels that would be practically fatal for most carbon-based life forms to handle. Their radiation phasers are the most accurate in known space; not even requiring a roll to hit (or rather, to assess damage) in SFB and FC. Implosion bolts have been described as almost akin to plasma launchers stuck in a highly accurate bolt mode; they do a lot of damage, and in the other games take three turns to arm (though can be fast-loaded). Implosion torpedoes are more or less plasma-like, but have a one-hex myopic zone and also detonate one hex away from their target; which prevents their use in a knife-fight, but does complicate the target ship's defences.

There are playtest Ship Cards online, to show what the Frigate and Bolt Frigate look like; as before, Rick Smith is the man to thank for the artwork present in each.

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With all of this in mind, here is my first shot at los cementeros.

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Implosion Bolts: Implosion bolts direct an accurate and powerful burst of energy that implodes against a target ship, causing impact and radiation damage.

Implosion Torpedoes: Similar in some ways to Alpha Octant plasma torpedoes, implosion torpedoes are not designed to detonate on contact; rather, they will implode at a short distance from the target, directing the implosion force towards it. In order to do so, it must clear the launcher in order to implode properly; requiring the Trobrin captain to plan their battle passes carefully. Unlike plasma torpedoes, implosion torpedoes cannot bolt or carronade.

Radiation Phasers: The most accurate phaser types in known space, only the silicate Trobrin’s resistance to the dangerous radiation levels produced as a side-effect of this weapon allows them to operate it. Radiation phasers do not need a roll to hit; they automatically manage to find their targets (both offensively and defensively). However, as a consequence of this, phaser-R1 and –R3s cannot bypass shields. Ships using Scout functions may only fire Phasers-R1 defensively; Phasers-R3 can be fired with no penalty.

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-R1 16 Varies Varies Kill Zone 8, Precise
Phaser-R3 6 Varies Varies Kill Zone 4, Precise
Implosion Bolt 16 Varies Varies Accurate +2, Multihit 4, Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Reload
Implosion Torpedo-S 16 Varies 6 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking
Implosion Torpedo-H 16 Varies 4 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking
Implosion Torpedo-M 16 Varies 3 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking
Implosion Torpedo-L 16 Varies 2 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking

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The phasers are handy, in that they will always hit; but the lack of the natural 6 means they can only help with shield-scraping against a target with its defences yet to be fully compromised. The bolts are treated like plasmas with the energy bleed, but with an accuracy boost that reflects its abilities in other games. I wasn't sure if the torpedoes needed any particular rule to reflect the troubles their range-1 implosions cause; the myopic zone might not seem like much, but can cause trouble if a target ship tries to get up close and personal.

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Trobrin Initiative: +0

Trobrin Fleet List:

Sapphire Frigate (FF) 115 points
Diamond Heavy Cruiser (CA) 190 points

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SAPPHIRE FRIGATE - 115 POINTS (FF)

The Trobrin frigate, dating from Y40, was a good ship of its kind. Its defenses were helped by the armor belts on-board… when the crew didn’t eat them, that is. (Trobrin consume rock as their staple food diet, and on long-range missions were literally able to consume parts of the armor in order to sustain themselves.)

Ships of the Class: Reduction, Thorata, Tratt.

Turn: 4
Shields: 16
Damage: 18/6
Marines: 2
Craft: 2 Shuttles
Traits: Armoured, Labs 2, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 4

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-R1 16 PH 1 Kill Zone 8, Precise
Phaser-R1 16 SH 1 Kill Zone 8, Precise
Phaser-R1 16 T 1 Kill Zone 8, Precise
Phaser-R3 6 T 2 Kill Zone 4, Precise
Implosion Torpedo-M 16 PH 3 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking
Implosion Torpedo-M 16 SH 3 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking

BOLT FRIGATE VARIANT (FB, Carronade) +10 POINTS

Fielded from Y91 onwards, this variant often accompanied frigate squadrons as a direct-fire support element. Remove the PH and SH Implosion Torpedo-M launchers and replace them with the following:

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Implosion Bolt 16 PH 1 Accurate +2, Multihit 4, Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Reload
Implosion Bolt 16 SH 1 Accurate +2, Multihit 4, Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Reload

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DIAMOND HEAVY CRUISER - 190 POINTS (CA)

The mainstay of the Trobrin armada since Y45, this class fought well for the Empire during the First Great War and for long afterwards. The Diamond’s combination of direct-fire and seeking weapons made it a dangerous opponent.

Ships of the Class: Diadem.

Turn: 6
Shields: 24
Damage: 36/12
Marines: 5
Craft: 3 Shuttles
Traits: Armoured, Labs 3, Tractor Beam 4, Transporter 6

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-R1 16 PH 2 Kill Zone 8, Precise
Phaser-R1 16 SH 2 Kill Zone 8, Precise
Phaser-R1 16 T 2 Kill Zone 8, Precise
Phaser-R3 6 A, P, S 2 Kill Zone 4, Precise
Implosion Bolt 16 PH 1 Accurate +2, Multihit 4, Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Reload
Implosion Bolt 16 SH 1 Accurate +2, Multihit 4, Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Reload
Implosion Torpedo-H 16 FH 4 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking
Implosion Torpedo-M 16 PH 3 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking
Implosion Torpedo-M 16 SH 3 Devastating +1, Energy Bleed, Multihit D6, Reload, Seeking

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EDIT: I had originally left the Armoured Trait off of these ships; but the more I compared them to their counterparts in the other four feets, the more notable their absence became. (They really do have a lot of armour boxes per class in SFB/FC.) However, tough as they are, neither ship has a great Turn score; plus the mostly-hemispheric arcs make the concentration of fire a challenge.

Still, you can't have everything, now can you?
 
I don't think you cna actually get within range 2" due to the bases - it may eb worth enlarging slightly or droppping

It may be worth considering that Radiation phasers will be far more effective against drones and plasma fire than normal phasers if they autohit - also are they supposed to be shorter range than normal phasers?
 
Thanks again for all the hard work (and typing).

Bases are 2" so stem to stem two ships that are in base to base contact would be two inches apart.

As Da Boss says (and most of the time he's right :wink: ) a 2" minimum range is fairly worthless as a disadvantage.

If its less than a PPD then make it 3" minimum range.
 
In FC and SFB, the implosion torpedo has to move at least one hex before it can lock-on; and the target itself is supposed to be in a hex adjacent to the one the torpedo implodes in. So, essentially, you have a two-hex myopic zone which doesn't exist for Alpha Octant plasmas (or for HEATs, should a Probr captain find himself pressed into a knife-fight). I was thinking that would translate into two hexes here; but since, as you say, the ships have a range limit imposed by the bases anyway, it's pretty much irrelevant anyway.

So, I'll go back and adjust the stats accordingly.

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In terms of seeking weapon defence, the radiation phasers are limited by the operations that Trobrin ships would expect to find in their native environment. Since tachyon missiels and HEAT warheads each require double the amount of succesful hits to be reduced, a Trobrin ship would have to allocate twice as many phasers for the task than with Alpha drones or plasma; phasers which the Trobrin don't have in large numbers. And since Trobrin ships tend not to have very many PR-3s, that risks eating into the supply of phasers they would prefer to be using offensively. And the phasers they do use to shoot at another ship can't bypass shields.


(The way in which the Trobrin's greatest rivals use their seeking weapons would, of course, have different effects. The Mæsron intent would be to try and use their missiles to limit the amount of radiation phasers being shot back at their ships when going in for tachyon gun hits; while the Probr, with no direct-fire heavy weapons, would instead hope to overwhelm the Trobrin defenses by throwing in as many HEATs as they can into the fray.)

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So, do any of the potential match-ups between the five playtest empires look interesting so far?

Historically, the Probr and Trobrin are major rivals; with two very different styles of plasma trying to out-do the other. The Iridani can show up alongside (or against) anyone, while the Aurorans were, at one point, forced to take sides in the Mæsron Civil War. So, basically, there is an excuse to have any of the five fight each other...

...or, perhaps, to test against those rampaging Andromedans.
 
This one is more for posterity/later consideration than anything; I don't intend to go into the same kind of thing for all five of the current playtest empires any time soon. This is really more in response to some of the issues raised over in the Alpha Octant attrition unit discussion threads; just to give a provisional snapshot as to what things could potentially look like over in the Omega Octant, should we see the likes of fighters and gunboats pop up in the game system.

(This means that the way in which the following units are presented are even more subject to change relative to the ships shown so far; since we don't know what any official fighter and gunboat rules might one day look like. So, if you want to skip this post and stick with the ships instead, be my guest.)

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As I was saying elsewhere, I believe that things should be streamline in ACtA:SF relative to SFB, when it comes to fighter and gunboat operations; in terms of fighters, the playtest take on things in the Borders of Madness offshoot from Federation Commander would be my primary focus, while whatever gunboats may end up like in BoM (if they ever show up there at all) would be similarly relevant.

In other words, rather than try to port over the vast array of designs (and incremental refits and refinements) seen in SFB, each empire should get only one type of fighter craft per role. (So, for example, the Klingons would get one drone fighter and one disruptor fighter; basically what you see in the playtest Ship Card for the BoM D7V.)

For the Omega Octant, the main port of call for both fighter and gunboat considerations is SFB Module Omega 5; which published gunboats for several Omega empires, as well as new (and old) fighters which helped to flesh out the history of each empire's attrition unit development.

Of course, part of the whole point of Omega is to allow things to be done quite differently than in Alpha; this can be seen here, too. Fighter squadrons in Omega vary in size from as low as ten to as many as sixteen fighters; while gunboat flotilla can go from four to eight boats depending on who is operating them. In the case of fighters, each empire went with what worked for them; with gunboats, developed by each empire to fight the Andromedans rather than each other, avoided the standard format seen in Alpha flotillas.

Also, rather than using the warp booster packs seen in the Alpha Octant, Omega boats have a "volatile warp" system; originally developed in the Federal Republic, the Aurorans turned down the technology (due to the potential cost in lives involved) only for the Mæsrons to purchase it in order to develop their own gunboats. The Alliance did its best to smuggle the technology to its former rivals, recognizing the common need to repel the Andromedan onslaught; which resulted in a series of boats that ran the same engines, but otherwise worked in very different ways.

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The test case I want to use here is, once again, the Mæsron Alliance. Mæsron fighters come 14 to a squadron; with eight phaser-only superiority fighters, four craft carrying tachyon guns, and two with tachyon missiles. The Alliance's gunboats, larger than the average, come four to a flotilla; typically with one leader and three standard boats. (The Omega empires were quite late to the concept of gunboat scouts; even when the Mæsron scout boat appeared in Y212, many flotillas continued not to include one.)

Below, I've taken a shot at the light cruiser escort; a destroyer escort is said to exist, but has yet to be published in SSD form. Also, I included the space control ship, which would allow both fighter and gunboat operations to be tested. I added a trio of fighters, one per mission; based on the "final" designs used in each role by the Alliance. Finally, I added the standard gunboat, as well as its leader variant.

(I skipped on outlining some of the traits involved; I'm assuming that, if we get official ones at some point, all we'd need here is to explicitly note those which are unique to Omega.)

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ESCORT LIGHT CRUISER - 130 POINTS (CLE)

First introduced in Y150, in the midst of the Mæsron Collapse, the escort light cruiser was intended to support fighter and missile strikes launched from a friendly carrier. Unlike escort ships in the Alpha Octant, this ship (as well as most other Aegis-equipped escorts in the Omega Octant) could be found supporting a fleet even in the absence of a carrier.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 4
Shields: 18
Damage: 28/10
Marines: 4
Craft: 4 Shuttles
Traits: Escort, Labs 3, Quick Launch, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 3

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-W1 16 F 4 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W1 16 F, P, S 1 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 F, P, S 1 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 A 2 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Tachyon Gun 24 F, P, S 1 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Missiles 4-36 T 1 Devastating +1, Multihit D6, Seeking

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SPACE CONTROL SHIP - 300 POINTS (SCS)

A conversion of the dreadnought, the Mæsron space control ship was slow compared to its counterparts in the Alpha Octant, but proved a powerful and respected combatant in its own space. It first entered service in Y198, at the height of the Andromedan invasion of the Omega Octant; it not only served the Alliance during this grim era, but also helped to secure its interests in the subsequent Mæsron Renaissance.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 6
Shields: 32
Damage: 48/16
Marines: 8
Craft: 3 Shuttles, 14 Fighters, 4 Gunboats
Traits: Carrier 4, Command +1, Labs 6, Tractor Beam 4, Transporter 4

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-W1 16 F 4 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W1 16 PH 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W1 16 SH 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 A 2 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 PH 2 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 SH 2 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Tachyon Gun 24 F 2 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Gun 24 F, P 2 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Gun 24 F, S 2 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Missiles 4-36 T 2 Devastating +1, Multihit D6, Seeking

*The standard fighter squadron for this vessel is: 8 ASFs, 4 ATFs, and 2 AMFs. The standard gunboat flotilla for this vessel is 1 PFL and 3 PFs.

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You may note that the CLE is a little big for a light cruiser, while the SCS is a bit small for a dreadnought. This is a by-product of the common floating platform shared with the CA and DD; while it helped cut down on production costs, it meant that the dreadnought ended up being a little small for its class. (We haven't seen the SSD for it yet, but it's reported that this issue meant that an entirely new heavy dreadnought design needed to be built when the Alliance found itself needing such a class.)

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ADVANCED STANDARD FIGHTER - 15 POINTS (ASF)

The most capable superiority fighter fielded by the Alliance, the advanced standard fighter first emerged in Y193; too late to serve in the Second Great War, but just in time for the Andromedan and Souldra invasions.

Turn: SM
Shields: 0
Damage: 1
Marines: 0
Craft: None
Traits: Dogfight +3, Fighter

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-W3 5 F, P, S 2 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise

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ADVANCED TACHYON FIGHTER - 20 POINTS (ATF)

First fielded alongside the advanced standard fighter in Y193, the advanced tachyon fighter replaced all other tachyon gun-armed attack craft in Alliance service by Y199.

Turn: SM
Shields: 0
Damage: 1
Marines: 0
Craft: None
Traits: Dogfight +1, Fighter

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-W3 5 F, P, S 1 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Tachyon Gun 12 F 1 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, One-Shot

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ADVANCED MISSILE FIGHTER - 20 POINTS (AMF)

The third of three new fighter types seen in Y193 (alongside the advanced standard fighter and advanced tachyon fighter), the advanced missile fighter was the exclusive front-line tachyon missile fighter in the Alliance fleet by Y198.

Turn: SM
Shields: 0
Damage: 1
Marines: 0
Craft: None
Traits: Dogfight +0, Fighter

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-W3 5 F, P, S 1 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Tachyon Missiles 4-36 T 1 Devastating +1, Multihit D6, One-Shot, Seeking

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Afterburners: A feature of the “volatile warp” engine system found in Omega Octant gunboat engines, afterburners allowed a temporary 50% boost in warp output, though at the risk of increased vulnerability to engine damage. If a flotilla chooses to operate its afterburners, it may ignore Power Drain effects when using a Special Action. However, each boat will add +1 to the Critical Score of their Dilithium Chambers if they do so. Also, due to the need for the engines to “cool down”, afterburners can only be used every second turn.

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GUNBOAT - 100 POINTS (PF)

The ultimate product of the “volatile warp” engine system acquired from the Federal Republic in Y195, the Alliance’s first gunboat flotillas entered service in Y197. Its larger-than-average size was due to the need to support operations of the massive tachyon missiles. Each individual gunboat was a powerful opponent, but two of them cost as much as three boats operated by many other empires. Mæsron gunboats come four to a flotilla; with three standard gunboats and one gunboat leader the most common arrangement.

Boats of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 3
Shields: 12
Damage: 8/3
Marines: 1
Craft: None
Traits: Afterburners, Agile, Gunboat

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-W1 12 PH 1 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W1 12 SH 1 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 PH 1 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 SH 1 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Tachyon Gun 12 F 2 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Missiles 4-36 T 1 Devastating +1, Multihit D6, Seeking

*This vessel may only launch its single tachyon missile Attack Die once every second turn.

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GUNBOAT LEADER - 120 POINTS (PFL)

Appearing in Y197 at the head of each new gunboat flotilla, the gunboat leader carried the missing systems required to allow a four-boat flotilla to operate as a “ship”.

Boats of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 3
Shields: 14
Damage: 8/3
Marines: 1
Craft: None
Traits: Afterburners, Agile, Gunboat, Tractor Beam 1, Transporter 1

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-W1 12 PH 1 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W1 12 SH 1 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 PH 1 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 SH 1 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Tachyon Gun 12 F 2 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Missiles 4-36 T 1 Devastating +1, Multihit D6, Seeking

*This vessel may only launch its single tachyon missile Attack Die once every second turn.

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(For those coming from SFB, note that the Mæsron boats there have a Turn Mode of A; unlike the AA Turn Mode of Alpha Octant boats, we can say for certain how these particular units can comport themselves. I cropped the direct-fire ranges in line with the reduced ranges which fighters and gunboats have in SFB; the missiles should stay the same as normal.)

All in, an SCS packing its standard squadron and flotilla comes to 960 points; 1090 if you throw in a CLE. That's assuming that carriers would have to pay for their fighters, as they did in A Call to Arms: Noble Armada prior to the release of Fleets of the Fading Suns. (In that game, the idea was to make carriers more common; since we'd want to limit their use here, it seems wise to inisist that, points-wise, fighters come separately.)

That's a substantial portion of any given fleet list given over to just one ship (well, two) and its attrition units.

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Again, the above are even more subject to change than the "regular" ships; depending on how fighters and gunboats end up (if they ever end up) in the game system.
 
As with any star-faring realm, the various empires in the Omega Octant cannot rely on warships alone. in order to establish and maintain their civilian and military networks, a vast array of logistical nodes, civilian ships and support craft can be found; each part doing their bit to help keep the economies and societies of their home star-nations up and running.

However, unlike in the Alpha Octant, there is no common template for how the Omega empires go about their business. A Trobrin base looks nothing like one built by the Probr, for example; to the point where each would need its own details statted out, rather than relying on a "generic" base the way most Alpha Octant empires do.

There is one partial exception to this, hwoever; in terms of civilian shipping. In Y35, the Masron Alliance started fielding a new quartet of civilian support craft; the older models used before this point were either unarmed (and thus vulnerable once the Alliance started encountering new and potentially hostile neighbours) or had no prior model in its particular class.

These four types became so successful that a number of other empires, friendly or otherwise, managed to acquire, and copy, these desgins over the next several decades. Once the Federal Republic of Aurora was provided these templates in Y162, the overall number of operating empires had gone up to eight.

(Now, this still left more than a dozen other powers not using them; at this time, we don't know what their civilian ships looked like. Still, given which empires had taken up these designs, a list which includes all five of the playtest empires shown so far, that was enough to make these units quite common across the Octant.)

Since the two larger transports were more heavily armed than their equivalents in the Alpha Octant, each convoy could bring a decent amount of firepower to the table; given the volatile (and porous) nature of borders in the Omega Octant, this was seen as a necessary expense. Unfortunately, the increased cost of running these more heavily-armed freighters added increased stresses to each empire's logistical network; a factor which the Andromedans took great advantage of during their invasion.


These four units haven't been published in a full Omega module yet; if you want to see them, they can be found in SSD form in Captain's Log #20.

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In terms of rules, the main thing to note is the various types of weapons that each empire's civilian ships operate.

Since the phaser and heavy weapon types can vary depending on which empire is operting them, the standard Variable* weapon line is not enough to handle it alone.

So, as well as a Variable* line to handle the heavy weapons, there would need to be a Variable-P1* to handle phaser-1-equivalents, and a similar Variable-P3* line for what each power uses as their phaser-3-alike:


Empire Year in Service Variable-P1* Variable-P3* Variable*
Mæsron Alliance Y35 Phaser-W1 Phaser-W3 Tachyon Gun
Trobrin Empire Y60 Phaser-R1 Phaser-R3 Implosion Torpedo-M
Probr Revolution Y65 Phaser-Q1 Phaser-Q3 High Energy Acceptance Torpedo
Iridani Questors Y77 Phaser-W1 Phaser-W3 Focused Energy Beam
Federal Republic of Aurora Y162 Phaser-1 Phaser-3 Photon Torpedo

(The three other empires can be added in later on, should they get statted up at some point.)

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Omega Civilian Shipping Initiative: -2

Omega Civilian Shipping List:

Civilian Express Boat (XB) 35 points
Civilian Passenger Liner (PL) 45 points
Civilian Small Freighter (FS) 60 points
Civilian Large Freighter (FL) 105 points


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CIVILIAN EXPRESS BOAT - 35 POINTS (XB)

The small freighter was adequate for moving cargo, but was terribly slow at performing this task. For more hasty deliveries, the Mæsrons created the express boat, which could move one-fifth of a small freighter’s load almost three times as fast. Its great speed also enabled it to escape from situations where a freighter could not, so the Mæsrons used it whenever the cargo load was critically needed. It is not surprising that other empires copied this useful design along with their freighter models.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 2
Shields: 6
Damage: 6/2
Marines: 1
Craft: 1 Shuttle
Traits: Agile, Probe 0, Transporter 1

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Variable-P1* - T 1

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CIVILIAN PASSENGER LINER - 45 POINTS (PL)

With Mæsron space constantly widening, the need quickly arose for a means to move passengers swiftly from one area to another. The passenger liner, based loosely on a greatly enlarged express boat hull, filled this need quite well. Its greatly enlarged hull allowed a surprising number of staterooms to be included on such a small vessel, and plenty of cargo space was provided for baggage and other supplies. In addition, the ship operated a large suite of shuttles for use as lifeboats.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 3
Shields: 8
Damage: 16/6
Marines: 3
Craft: 5 Shuttles
Traits: Agile, Probe 0, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Variable-P1* - F 1
Variable-P3* - PH 1
Variable-P3* - SH 1

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CIVILIAN SMALL FREIGHTER - 60 POINTS (FS)

The original unarmed Mæsron freighter was upgraded to this design in Y35. Well-armed and capable of carrying a hefty amount of cargo, it was quite expensive for a logistical element. The central cargo section was designed for modularity, as it can be detached and replaced with different sorts of pods. The ship cannot operate without a module.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 4
Shields: 10
Damage: 14/5
Marines: 1
Craft: 1 Shuttle
Traits: Probe 0, Slow, Tractor Beam 1, Transporter 1

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Variable-P1* - F 1
Variable-P3* - PH 1
Variable-P3* - SH 1
Variable-P3* - T 1
Variable* - F 1

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CIVILIAN LARGE FREIGHTER - 105 POINTS (FL)

This freighter is similar to the small version and uses the exact same sort of cargo modules, but can employ two of them instead of one. Both must be present for the unit to operate. The large freighter had the advantage of greater speed, but lacked manoeuvrability and did not provide as many weapons to the convoy as two small freighters would.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 6
Shields: 15
Damage: 22/8
Marines: 2
Craft: 2 Shuttles
Traits: Probe 0, Slow, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Variable-P1* - F 2
Variable-P3* - PH 1
Variable-P3* - SH 1
Variable-P3* - T 2
Variable* - F 2

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In terms of how they look, the modules are shown on the SSD as being more like squarish blocks from the top down, rather than the long tubes shown for Alpha Octant freighters. (The large freighter has two of these blocks, one behind the other, between the fore and aft hull sections.)

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Now, of course, what is a convoy without some pirates to try and raid it?

At the moment, the main pirate raiders in Omega, the Zosman Maurauders, remain unpublished. It may be a while before we get to see what their ships look like, unfortunately.

However, if you want something you can try to use in the interim, here is a sample unit from the Vulpa insurgents that might act as a reasonable stand-in for now (or, if you prefer, as a more challenging type of transport to try and catch):

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VULPA INSURGENT BLOCKADE RUNNER - 150 POINTS (VBR)

Beginning in Y171, the Vulpa began to use ships of their own design in battle against the Trobrin and later other enemies, including the Mæsrons themselves. This became known as the Vulpa Insurgency. One of the vessels most commonly seen was a heavily modified Mæsron destroyer outfitted specifically for speed. Its purpose was to haul cargo and other supplies to Vulpa outposts or allies, avoiding any pursuit simply by outrunning it, and destroying any small patrol boats that might attempt to interfere. The Blockade Runner was a source of considerable irritation to Mæsron authorities for years until the insurgency was finally stamped out in Y189, near the end of the Second Great War.

Ships of the Class: None as yet recorded.

Turn: 4
Shields: 18
Damage: 24/8
Marines: 4
Craft: 2 Shuttles
Traits: Agile, Labs 2, Quick Launch, Tractor Beam 2, Transporter 2

Weapon Range Arc AD Special
Phaser-W1 16 F, P 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W1 16 F, S 2 Accurate +2, Kill Zone 10, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 PH 2 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Phaser-W3 5 SH 2 Accurate +1, Kill Zone 3, Precise
Tachyon Gun 24 F 1 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Gun 24 F, P 1 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Gun 24 F, S 1 Accurate +2, Killzone 6, Multihit 2, Reload
Tachyon Missiles 4-36 T 1 Devastating +1, Multihit D6, Seeking

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In terms of design, the VBR gets rid of the standard Destroyer's floating aft platform; the Blockade Runner is a far more angular and aggressive design, in keeping with its builders' warlike intentions.

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That's probably as much as I'd want to go into for now; those five empires, plus their support units, are more than enough to account for a first wave's worth of Omega Octant designs.

Does this set of previews make the setting something to look forward to?
 
Thanks for your comments; I hope the chance to explore the Omega Octant (and the other non-Alpha settings out there) will be taken once the game has managed to mature and bed down over time.
 
Beyond the five (and-a-half, if you count the Vulpa) playtest empires above, there are many more fleets and technologies to be found in the Omega Octant; some present throughout the known timeline, others rising early only to be laid low, and yet others which only emerge at a later point in time.

To help give a sense of who else is out there, I wanted to give a quick run-through of the other guys. (This might take a while for me to run through.)

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The Koligahr Solidarity is comprised of a jellyfish-like aquatic species, which was raised to sentience by the ursine Ka-ma-ty-u. Unlike what happened with the Seltorians and Probr, the Ka-ma-ty-u were gentle "mentors"; as a result, the few members of that species still alive on the Koligahr homeworld are greatly revered.

Koligahr warships are formed by building spherical hull segments underwater, launching them into orbit, and then assembling them into functioning warships; as shown in Adam Turner's 3D art for the Koligahr gunboat tender (a variant of their frigate-sized patrol scout).

Their microphasers fire like disruptors, and have a benefit against plasma. Their heavy weapons show a mastery of antimatter technology; their powerful antimatter cannons score direct-fire damage (and have a "caseless" mode that can sieve through shields) while their antimatter cloud generators allow them to strike all of the attrition units in a single SFB hex in one go.

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The Vari Combine is run by a species of giant blood-sucking spiders; to them, the blood of mammalian species is a particular delicacy. (This issue in and of itself helped spark the first Great War.) Politically, the Combine is divided into twenty-odd cells; each with a Byzantine internal power structure, but which (mostly) band together to fight external threats. Only once has Vari space been unified under a single Vizu (queen); with the Vriss cell using its favourable position at the end of the Andromedan invasion to forcibly unite what remained of Vari space by Y208.

Vari starship designs are limited by their decentralised production facilities. No cell has the ability to field a Dreadnought; the largest Vari ships are Battlewagons and Command Cruisers (each roughly the size of a Kirov-class Battlecruiser). Their first modern ships were somewhat ill-regarded compared to their rivals; something that cannot be said for the far more capable cruisers they started to field later in Omega history. One quirk of theirs is the lack of dedicated labs; the Vari are able to use any of their on-board control spaces as labs instead.

Their particle phasers are the most widely variable types around; with the potential of doing the most, or least, amount of damage depending on how the die rolls. They have particle beams, which are sort of like Seltorian particle cannons; as well as particle probes, which have been modified to fire a single particle beam shot (that can help snipe at a down shield). Later on, their new-generation warships (such as the dangerous Wing Cruiser) pioneered the use of the particle splitter torpedo; a plasma-like weapon which sub-divides into 2, 3 or 4 warheads (each of which must be given a separate target) should they go beyond nine hexes without hitting a target. This helps them handle fighters and seeking weapons at range, and gives them more of a punch up close.

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The Drex Unity was established once the walrus-like Drexari perfected a series of artificial intelligences which could do the work of running an empire without them; for some reason, the robotic Drex have not decided to go all Cylon-like and kill their singularly slothful masters...

In order to clear out enough "breathing room" for their creators to revel in their solitude, the Drex use an array of sleek and powerful warships controlled by super-intelligent battle computers; designed to please the Drexari eye in appearance, and to cause no end of trouble for their enemies. Even their fighters and gunboats are built to precise tolerances, greatly aided by the complete lack of any need to provide for the life support systems required to keep a Drexari alive.

Drex warships use a combination of wide-angle and particle phasers, as well as light and heavy hypercannons; the latter with standard, implosive and enveloping ammo types to choose from. (This can cause trouble for the Andromedans; with enveloping ammo to help fill PA panels, and implosive rounds to wreak havoc on internal systems and increase the risk of cascades.)

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Across the Wasteland from Drex space, the Ymatrian Horde was uplifted into space by an all-too-naive species known as the Kyrihn; the fierce (and highly superstitious) bone-armoured bears turned on their benefactors, committing mass xenocide on the Kyrihn, and on any less advanced species unfortunate enough to be caught in their waves of expansion. Eventually, the Ymatrians launched a devastating invasion of Drex space, coming closer than anyone had ever done to striking an actual Drexari colony planet directly. Seeing there was no reasoning with the Ymatrians, the Drex crossed the Wasteland in force and bombarded the Ymatrian worlds into the Stone Age. Duly chastised, the surviving Ymatrian nomads kept to themselves... until their home world was rediscovered by the Paravians in Y206.

Ymatrian ships are designed to do one thing; close as fast as possible, in order to direct a crushing blow at point-blank range. Niceties like padding and support systems are largely ignored; the Ymatrians prefer to strike first and analyse the ashes later. The Ymatrians go a little overboard with their command variants; all three of them are overgunned in the same manner as the New Jersey Battlecruiser. Even some of their fighters risk tearing themselves apart if they fire all of their weapons!

Their antiproton phasers are lethal at close range, but drop off significantly further out. Their antiproton beams are respectable in their own right; but become even more deadly when focused upon their target by the antiproton lance. Letting a Ymatrian ship catch you in its forward centerline is a really bad idea.

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In the wake of their victory over the Ymatrians, the Drex made first contact with a newly-emerging power further coreward along their side of the Wasteland; the Worb Technocracy. The Drex warned this strange mushroom-like species against aggression, before leaving them in peace for the time being. Not willing to leave things to chance, the Worb sent their own scouts across the Wasteland, acquiring samples of Ymatrian antiproton technology and integrating them into their own ships. Politically, the Worb are defined by their biology; with castes based in their distinct phenotypes. (A fertile Worb seeds thousands of spores in the course of their reproductive cycle. Only 1 in 10,000 spores produces a fertile Worb; only one in 50,000 produces a sentient Worb; while only 1 in 5 million can produce a Worb that can both breed and think. The non-sentient Worb are culled from the population and recycled as food; the infertile sentient Worb form the bulk of each caste; while the fertile sentients assume the leadership role upon the bgrwogic, or "Fertile Council".)

Worb ships are designed to carry one or more turrets, on which the bulk of their firepower is mounted. This means that not only are Worb ships very large for their size class, they are also quite poor at more mundane things like turning. (Their CA, which mounts two turrets, would have a massive Damage score of 50/17, but only have a Turn score of 9.)

The Worb range of weapon types includes the same antiproton phasers, beams and lances the Ymatrians had once used, as well as subspace rockets which the Technocracy developed internally. Their specific weapon suites per ship, and choice of attrition units, each depend on which caste builds them. For example, the High Worb, with the greatest pretensions of grandeur, stick with a more balanced set of weapon types for their ships (and use fighters armed with subspace rockets); whereas their rivals, the maverick Broad Worb, prefer phaser-only ships and fighters. (Indeed, you can't mix High and Broad Worb fighters in the same squadron; but you can have High and Broad Worb ships in the same fleet.) Worb ships also have subspace energy fields; which can be used to help keep enemy attrition units at bay for a time.

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I'll add in the others once I have more time.
 
And a few more. (I figured more than five or six empires per post might be overkill.)

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The Hivers are a species of giant shaggy bumblebees. Biologically, each Hive Queen is between fifteen to twenty metres in length; while her subjects average at about one-half to three-quarters of a metre, with a one-metre wingspan (for those phenotypes that possess wings). Politically, the Hivers, like the Vari, are sub-divided into separate sub-governments, which routinely band together against external threats. However, while the Vizu of a given Vari cell has no end of domestic political intrigue to contend with, each Hive Queen rules with totalitarian authority; her subordinates bred explicitly to show Godlike deference towards her. (Indeed, this conditioning is so effective that, should a Hive Queen be lost in battle, the vast majority of her subjects will commit suicide on the spot; on average, only 5% of that Hive's ships will survive to join other Hives.)

Due to their physical size, Hiver ships are two sizes smaller than those of a more "standard" empire. Their heavy cruiser is what the Federation might call a destroyer; their heavy dreadnoughts are the size of other empires' heavy cruisers; while their Barb frigates are, essentially, fighters. What they lack in size, however, they make up for in their sheer strength of numbers; operating a Hydran-like "casual carrier" doctrine, where each Barb fighter replaces an administrative shuttle on a one-for-one basis.

After studying technology samples from the Vari and Mæsrons, they adopted wide-angle phasers as their primary armament; as well as combining aspects of the tachyon gun and the particle beam into their favoured Sting torpedo. (A handful of Hives are said to operate alternate technology types, but the current SSDs in SFB present the "standard" weapon mix.)

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Among the most prominent rivals of the Hivers, the Alunda Host was founded when a land-dwelling octopus species, the Mirn, managed to domesticate a batch of Alunda space-whales; "wild" Alunda still exist, though the ones adapted for use by the Mirn have been bio-engineered to act more like living starships.

There are two "breeds" of Alunda bioship, depending on which gender the "base hull" would be. The smaller male Alunda is used to breed frigates and destroyers; the larger female is the basis of the Host's cruisers and dreadnoughts. Instead of building fighters the old-fashioned way, the Host genetically modified a remora-like parasite (which naturally feeds upon "wild" Alunda) into a kind of living attack shuttle. Indeed, when the time came for the Host to develop advanced technology, they did so by recruiting Sigvirion refugees (out of sheer desperation); agreeing to let the sentient virii assimilate the bio-engineered control systems linking the Mirn crew to their living warships, providing them with the kind of enhancements that allowed them to counter Hiver X-ships.

Alunda Host bioships use bio-electric bolts generated by the creature itself as both phaser-eqivalents and as heavy weapons. Plasma whips act as short-range direct-fire weapons, which can also be trained to launch plasma-like whipcrack torpedoes. Like a squid using ink to escape danger, a Host ship also has a plasma cloud generator, that allows it to produce a near-instant terrain feature which it can try to manouvre behind. Plus, an attractor/repulsor field allows it to either draw an opponent closer, or try to push it away.

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If there was any empire which the Alunda Host hated more than the Hivers, it would have been the Branthodon Regime. The Branthodons, a psionically-active species of warm-blooded reptiles, were masters of bio-engineering; their crowning achievement saw them capture Space Dragon eggs, using their gifts at genetic engineering to create their own clones. Coupled with a bio-mechanical exoskeleton grafted onto the clone-dragons' spine plates (and a thorough lobotomy to subdue the creature's natural intelligence), the result was one of the most fearsome units to appear on the Omega octant stage; the Dragonship.

Ironically, when the first Alunda and Branthodon ships made contact, each side failed to recognise the true "nature" of the other; by the time it dawned on them that each was fighting another functioning empire, it was far too late to undo the blood spilled on both sides. Eventually, the Alunda would do in the Branthodons for good in the Genocide Operation; Branthodon space would not become a factor again until the mysterious Echarri Dynasty settled there in Y205.

The exoskeletons are treated as "normal" ships, though they are really a series of inter-connected segments mounted on the clone-dragon's back plates. The dragon itself is bred to a certain size before being "commissioned" as a Dragonship; larger units are very powerful, but require a significant amount of resources to keep alive. (This logistical drawback is one of the key reasons why the Alunda were ultimately able to overwhelm the Regime by Y189.) As with the Alunda Host, the Branthodons used a parasite species to create their Wyvern fighters; but also managed to use baby Dragonships (which were actually dragon embryos induced to birth early) as pseudo-gunboats, decades before anyone thought to build an actual PF. (Technically, the Hiver Destroyer is also the size of a gunboat, but even it is not quite the same as the "true" boats fielded with volatile warp technology in later eras.)

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The Chlorophon Association is a symbiotic union of two interconnected species; the Chlorophons (a species of sentient spherical trees) and the Keepers (a mammalian anteater-like species, which has evolved to feed exclusively upon the sap of a Phon). The Chlorophons are so massive that only one can fit inside a starship at a time; and even then, only the younger and more excitable individuals are suitable. (Older Phons are simply too massive to serve as starship commanders.) Phons can live for up to 2200 years; unsurprisingly, this makes them a very patient people. For them, "everything can be ignored until we ignore it tomorrow." The Chlorophons became the first power to send ships out into the Octant with the explicit purpose of uncovering the mystery of the Andromedans; unfortunately, their efforts were derailed before they could succeed in this venture. They did, however, manage to gather a large amount of historical data along their travels; their grouping of the various eras of modern Omega history into Cycles has defined the way in which the Omega timeline is presented.

Their ships are very large and quite cumbersome; their CA has thirty Hull boxes in SFB (which would translate to a Damage score of 60/20 if ported over directly), and would have a Turn score of 9 in ACtA:SF terms. The lone Phon aboard acts as the pilot and commanding officer, while its Keepers act as the crew and Marine squads; there are rules in SFB governing the effect of "stunning" the Phon captain, or how how its presence affects boarding actions against a Chlorophon ship. The Keepers are not naturally aggressive, nor can they last long in the absence of a Phon's sap; while Keepers are adequate for boarding party actions, they are unsuitable for use as attrition unit crews. Thus, the Chlorophons have neither fighters nor gunboats.

They use quantum phasers for long-range sniping, and their home-grown energy howitzer to batter down shields (and to fill up PA Panels). In addition, their subspace coagulators (also known as "spore casters") allow them to create their own terrain, not entirely unlike a Neo-Tholian armed with a web caster; in this case, the "spores" generated act more like asteroids, impeding enemy movement.

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The Sigvirion Expansion is run by a highly infectious species of intelligent virii, capable of controlling the higher brain functions of the many host species vulnerable to infection. (Certain species, like the Andromedans, Trobrin, Chlorophons, and others are natually immune; while the Probr are somewhat more resistant than normal to Sigvirion takeover.) Assimilation tends to destroy the host's original personality; if an infected individual is given a retroviral injection, purging the virus will leave the host body a mindless vegetable. The Sigvirion home empire was crushed by the Mæsrons in a brutal campaign that raged between Y106-Y112; their home worlds relentlessly bombarded and irradiated, in an effort to stamp out the infection once and for all. However, a handul of Sigvirion ships escaped; the Sigs would crop up a handful of times in Probr and Nucian space, before ultimately fleeing to the Alunda Host in the Y190s (where they offered to operate the Mirn's living warships).

Before settling in to their new digs inside the bio-control systems of Alunda Host ships, the original vessels the Sigvirions built looked like the classic "UFO-style" flying saucers. (This was to facilitate the landing on planets; one of the key vectors of infection the Sigs worked with during their campaigns.) Behind their six standard shields, each Sig vessel operated an inner seventh shield; not entirely unlike the hemispheric inner shields seen on Lesser Magellanic Cloud warships, but with their own specific rules required. Tactically, Sig ships were at their best on the offensive against a planet or other fixed location; they were less effective when pushed back onto the defensive.

In terms of weapons, the earliest Sig warships had short-ranged pulse emitters, that could fire three times per turn; as well as kinetic wave torpedoes that were weaker at launch, built up to their strongest warheads mid-flight, then dropped off once more. Later Sig ships incorporated improved pulse emitters, as well as Mæsron wide-angle phasers in order to better defend themselves.

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There are six more published empires to cover; as well as a number of powers known to exist, but which have yet to be shown in SSD form.
 
Here are the last six empires to be currently published as part of the SFB Omega project.

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Among the most ancient and mysterious of any known species in the Star Fleet Universe, the færie-like denizens of the Loriyill Collective brook no visits (friendly or otherwise) into their Home Stars; but have taken it upon themselves to act as a ward and guardian of the Octant at large, as and when they deem their presence to be necessary. Allegedly, the Loriyill had at one point managed to explore and catalogue almost every inhabited planet in the entire Milky Way Galaxy; however, any outposts they may have had beyond the Home Stars were abandoned by approximately -Y500. The Loriyill have been extremely reluctant to welcome trade or diplomatic contact; even their Chlorophon neighbours, an ancient species in their own right, have had diffficulty getting more than a polite refusal from Loriyill representatives. However, when the Collective's longest-standing nemeses struck in the Y190s, this unique power proved just how important it can be to the continued existence of the Omega Octant as a whole.

Their ships are of a kind of exotic technology that, to non-Loriyill, is essentially indistinguishable from magic. Beautiful to behold, each vessel resembles great wings of gossamer light, coalesced around a pincushion of varicoloured spikes. At the highest degree of magnification, it even looks as if the Loriyill crewembers (each of which being about 15-20 centimetres in height) are liberally fluttering to and fro among the silken stands that comprose their ship; seemingly unconcerned with the vacuum that surrounds them. Attempts to duplicate this technology (such as it is) have proved utterly impossible for "lesser" powers; even captured Loriyill crewmembers do not survive long in captivity, their bodies rapidly decomposing after death. In combat, Loriyill ships are somewhat small for their size class, but have excellent shielding and outstanding Turn scores; befitting the natural grace of their butterfly-esque operators.

In terms of weapons, they use both quantum and micro phasers as their primary weapons; it seems that, prior to studying these phaser types as used by their current neighbours, their ships had no phasers to speak of. Their indigenous weapons include fireballs; a weak direct-fire weapon with an enveloping overload ability. (The purpose of this firing mode only became clear to non-Loriyill in the Y190s.) They also have flame shields, which can reflect a portion of incoming fire back to the ship which fires upon them; as well as flame shield projectors which allow escort vessels to provide flame shield assistance to allied vessels. (There was one other benefit to flame shield technology that, again, only became clear to others in the Y190s.)

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Developing in isolation near the Galactic Rim of the Omega Octant, the Singer Protectorate had a chequered history in its time upon the galactic stage. The hummingbird-like Singers, who communicate via high-frequency musical notes inaudible to humans, had difficulties communicating with other species; this became a problem when the Koligahr arrived at the Singer home world in Y143. The Singers suffered as a subjugated people until Y169, when the Loriyill discovered their existence; seeing the Singers as a kindred species, the Loriyill sent a battle fleet in Y174 to demand Singer independence. After a war with the Koligahr which raged from Y177-178 (during which the Loriyill, in a rare show of emotion, responded to a Koligahr threat to bombard the Singer home world with a declaration that they in turn would destroy the Koligahr home world if any further harm came to the Singers), the Loriyill formally established themselves as the protectors of Singer space. Sadly, in Y194, a very different invader would bring Singer civilisation to an end; the surviving refugees would flee into the Home Stars, never to re-emerge.

Surprisingly for a species reknowned for its grace and agility, the Singers did not see this reflected in their warships; which were no more manouverable than, say, the ships of the Federal Republic of Aurora. They were a little short on Hull boxes for their size classes, but had adequate shielding; though the generation of ships built post-independence were far more capable than the ones designed prior to the Koligahr occupation.

Their pre-conquest weapons included short-ranged sonic pulsers, plus tachyosonic beams as their heavy weapons; post-independence, their new hulls also incorporated quantum phasers, enhanced tachyosonic beams, and even elements of Loriyill technology (flame shields and fireballs) that no other empire was able to accomplish. Sadly, despite their successes, it would not be enough to save their home world from its ultimate fate.

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That fate would be at the hands of the Souldra; the ancient foe of the Loriyill, and one of the most pressing threats to all life in the Omega Octant during the course of their onslaught in the Y190s. The Souldra themselves are a "species" of dark energy beings that originally reside in an alternate dark matter dimension; they can manifest in our reality using a series of crystalline warships, which must feed upon dark energy reserves to survive. (The main sources of this energy come from scattered dark matter caches, as well as the un-natural radiation emitted at the Black Sun; a star found deep in the Void separating the Alpha and Omega Octants, and the site of the Souldra's primary beach-head into "our" reality. There was another source of such energy, however; the stolen life energies of their many victims.)

The Souldra struck in the Y190s, timing their assault to co-incide with the Andromedan invasion; though the two sets of invaders were not allies, and themselves clashed for dominance. The Souldra drained the Singer home world of all life in Y194, perhaps as an act of spite against the Loriyill; other worlds, such as the Bolosco home colonies, were also lost in this manner. Howevr, the Souldra failed to reckon on the sheer determination of the Loriyill; who sent a massive task force, the Splinter Collective, to destroy their holdings at the Black Sun in Y198. This victory brought the Souldra assault to its knees in one fell swoop; cut off from their home dimension, the surviving Souldra ships turned to opportunistic raiding to survive, or literally crumbled to dust as their energies were depleted.

Souldra ships look like giant, malevolent obsidian crystals; with glowing conduits mapped out like a curcuit board beneath the surface, acting as the chief "corridors" for the Souldra "crew" as they operate the ship. The Souldra operate a Hydran/Hiver-esque casual carrier doctrine, but with a very different purpose in mind; for their primary "fighters", the dreaded Black Shards, are deisgned to physically latch onto the hull of an enemy starship (or upon the surface of a once-verdant planet) and drain its occupants of their life energies. These stolen essences can then be used to replenish the ship's Soul Shields; a highly flexible system which allows six-block shield increments to be placed in whichever of the ship's shield facings the Souldra player deems fit. (These help explain the peculiarities of Loriyill technology. Overloaded fireballs force a Souldra opponent to spread their soul shields more evenly; weakening them at any given point. Flame shields prevent a Black Shard from attaching to the operating ship, making Souldra vampirism far less viable when they are active.)

Their main phaser-equivalents are dark matter pulsars; coming in light or heavy flavours, these have no roll to hit in SFB, but do relatively little damage per shot. (It does add up if you're not careful.) Their dark matter torpedoes have standard and overloaded levels; the damage values are not all that high individually, but again they do add up. Both weapon types use a specific dark matter damage procedure, which is intended to leave ships inert but intact; or at least intact enough for the crews aboard to still be alive long enough for the next feast. Tactically, Souldra units excel at attrition warfare; the longer you leave them in the fight, the harder it is to get rid of them. (Fortunately for the Andromedans, they are immune to Souldra vampirism; though no-one knows if this means the Andromedans are not alive, or if their form of life, whatever it may be, is simply too alien to be compatible with the draining process.)

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The Bolosco Merchant Guilds came to the Omega Octant from beyond the Galactic Energy Barrier. the amoeba-like Bolosco evolved in another galaxy, which they were forced to flee by the belligerent KoTanrho. At some point, a splinter group of Bolosco set out for the Milky Way; it's unclear what fate befell the other exile groups at this point. "Our" Bolosco were unprepared for the strength of the Barrier; unfortunately, of the more than one hundred guilds to send members to the Omega Octant, only sixteen would survive aboard the crippled ark ships that made it through. Even so, this was still a large enough population base to allow them to establish a small, but poweful, set of colony planets (which they gained after signing treaties with their new Trobrin and Probr neighbours). Over time, the Bolosco established trade routes across the Octant, earning a sterling reputation as honest brokers and keen adventurers. Regrettably, their home colonies were drained of life by the Souldra in Y191; the surviving ships fled to Mæsron space, but their trading empire was never re-established. Their home space lives on, after a fashion; as the grim fief of the Loriyill Splinter Collective.

The Bolosco operate what is, essentially, a fleet of tugboats. All of their ships from frigate size and upwards can operate at least one small pod; with larger hulls able to handle two small pods, one large pod, or another combination particular to the hull type. They are fairly hefty, but are also slow and somewhat ponderous; especially when carrying one or more pods. Bolosco ships are packed with lots of crewmembers; unfortunately, this also makes Bolosco hulls twice as profitable for a Souldra Black Shard to draw life energies from.

Their trade links allow them to choose which phaser types they use; wide-angle, micro, particle, quantum or radiation phasers are all available to them. All of the phasers on the base hull must be the same type; though each pod can have its phasers all be of a different type to those on the hull transporting it. (A common combination sees radiation phasers on the hull, and quantum phasers on the pod/s.) Masters of tractor beam technology, they possess focused tractor beams that act as direct-fire heavy weapons; as well as integrated warp tractors, that provide a number of distinct capabilities to the operating ship.

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The traders of the Qixa Amalgamate have their own tale of horror and loss to tell; though, in their case, one capped with a bittersweet chance at renewal. The rabbit-like Qixa are native to the Qixavalor Cloud; a gaseous nebula with unique properties that Qixa ships are deisgned to navigate safely, but which foreign-built hulls can have significant issues with (when not stopping in "pockets" of clear space within). The Qixa home world was invaded by the Sigvirions in Y103; a group of refugees fled to a colony world granted them by the Probr, and were forced to live in exile for several decades. The Mæsrons flushed the Sigs out of the Qixavalor Cloud in Y111, leaving the infected planets devastated in their wake; their hold on the region would last until the Mæsron Collapse began in Y147. Finding their planets abandoned, the Qixa spent years tending to the damage done by the Mæsron assault (and setting a number of safeguards against further Sigvirion infection) before making their triumphant return in Y160. Gradually, the restored Amalgamate sent trading missions to other worlds, offering precious refined gases from the Cloud to whoever wanted to buy them. Competitive rivals with the Bolosco, the fall of the latter in Y191 allowed the Qixa to expand their own trading empire; which in itself increased the amount of unwanted attention placed upon Qixa interests at home and abroad.

Qixa ships come in two flavours. The first type is exclusively tailored for combat within their home space; able to navigate the volatile gases of the Qixavalor Cloud safely, and exploit their reactive properties in battle against any would-be intruders. Their second tier of starships are built from the keel up for trading; intended to sail out into open space, bringing trade goods to and from the Qixa's growing list of trading partners.

Their weapons have the same home-and-away distinction. For in-cloud use, the Qixa have gauss cannons, energy spark rings, and reactive ultrawarp missile warheads; all intended to magnify their damage by triggering explosive reactions within the Qixavalor Cloud's gaseous environment. For their trading vessels, more gauss cannons, "brick" warhead ultrawarp missiles, and even the odd wide-angle phaser or few help keep their business in good shape; though, in most cases, the one true defence for a Qixa trade ship is its speed.

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And finally, there is/was the Ryn Enclave. The Ryn Nebula is a hollow sphere, rimward of post-Collapse Mæsron space, and not too far away from the Federal Republic; the Nebular Wall is not hazardous like the WYN Radiation Shell, but does provide a natural moat for whoever is inside to secure themselves behind. However, the planets within the nebula are quite resource-poor; requiring the native inhabitants (the felinoid Rynish species) to refine their recycling technologies to an unparalled degree. The Ryn learned of the outside universe when the wreck of a Wallimi scout ship drifted through the inner skin of the Nebular Wall in Y44; though subsequent attempts to found colonies on the "outside" proved fruitless. The Enclave itself was the subject of considerable attention from its neighbours, however; with several armed expeditions sent in to try and wrest control of it from its fierce inhabitants. Eventually, the Rynish people faced their greatest foe; as the Andromedans sent an expedition in Y184, and another in Y186. However, the final fate of the Enclave is a mystery; when the Andromedans tried a third time in Y188, all traces of Rynish civilisation had dissapeared completely. (The Andromedans would use the now-empty Nebula as a primary staging post; they would hold it until Operation Concerted Strike in Y204. By Y210, the Nebula was held by the New Alliance.)

Due to the lack of dilithium crystals inside the Nebula, the Ryn never developed tactical warp drive. Instead, their singular mastery of transporter technology allowed them to operate their quantum transporters on a tactical level; literally beaming their own ships from one point in space to the next. In place of shields, the Rynish developed ceramic-composite armour; a system which worked well in tendem with their heavy weapon of choice.

The Rynish were the first to pioneer quantum phasers; the Probr would "borrow" this technology after capturing a Ryn ship that had made the Great Crossing (of the Nebula Wall; an arduous trek for a ship with Non-Tactical Warp Drive) in Y55. Their transporter-collector beams were able to not only disassemble their targets, but re-constitute the matter so acquired back into the Rynish vessel's ceramic-composite armour banks. Their transporter-emitter missiles were also able to beam themselves across the board; with a single transporter-collector beam in place of a conventional warhead.

-----

That is the full range of fleets we have in print so far; though, as noted above, there are a few which are known to exist that await their turn in the spotlight.
 
This will be a more quick-fire list, since most of the actual ship and weapon details remain unknown.

-----

The Nucian Clans owe their origin to their ancestors' rejection of the Mæsron Alliance in Y20. The uprising by the Vulpa colonists of Nucia was put down that same year; but while the Mæsrons were caught in deliberation as to what to do with them, the entire population escaped the world, fleeing into what would become known as the Nucian Cluster. The various Clans would become great rivals, with no end of feuding between them; the Chorrak, Treska and Yaskitor Clans surfacing for various reasons at different points in the timeline. (The Chorrak took particular exception to a Paravian attempt to steal key Nucian technology in Y172; the Treska would be subverted by the Sigvirions, eventually being torn apart by three vengeful rival Clans during the Second Great War; while the Yaskitor, or Bloodfang, Clan would ally with the emergent Vulpa Confederacy in the Seventh Cycle, eventually conquering the Cluster and driving their surviving foes into the New Alliance as exiles.)

-----

Seemingly based in the far reaches of the Phi Sector of the Milky Way (towards the Void separating the Sigma and Omega Octants), the Zosman Maurauders are the local answer to the Orion Pirates. Keen to offer their services as mercenaries, the Zosmans took particular exception to the Bolosco, for a reason as yet unexplained. (It seems that the Zosmans themselves fled to the Omega Octant from some distant region; it is unknown if their mutual animosity with the Bolosco hints at disagreements made prior to both species' arrivals in this region of space, or if it simply represented a case of loathe at first sight.) The Bolosco were not alone in their emnity towards the Maurauders; the Iridani are no great fans of them, either.

-----

The first signs of the Echarri Dynasty came in Y201, when the first scouts appeared from beyond the spinward edge of the Omega Octant map; claiming to represent a people fleeing from an Andromedan invasion of their home octant (which may or may not be the as-yet-uncharted Sigma Octant). The real wake-up call came in Y205, when huge convoys arrived in what had once been Branthodon space; carrying enough colonists and mobile infrastructural elements to establish a sizeable empire practically overnight. As the Seventh Cycle proceeded, the Echarri demonstrated an eye for conquest; crushing an isolated Hive in Y209, backstabbing the Alunda Host in Y218, and warring with the Hivers from Y215 to Y220. Reportedly, one of the conflicts to look forward to in the as-yet-unpublished Eighth Cycle of Omega history is the Echarri Expansion; it remains to be seen just how far the Echarri threat may spread.

-----

On the fartest edge of the Omega Octant from the Echarri, the Paravian Jihad is primed to be unleashed once the Eighth Cycle rolls around. To get to that point, the Paravian exiles in the Omega Octant (who seemingly have an as-yet-unspecified relation to the Early Years Paravians who had once stalked Gorn space) played a long game, carefully marshalling their resources at each stage of their development. One key step in their plan was the discovery of the Ymatrian home world in Y206; the locals there mistaking the bird-like species for angels. Seizing this opportunity, the Paravians soon enslaved the surviving Ymatrian populace; using these fierce warriors as Marines, and shipping their antiproton tech back home for future consideration. By the end of the Seventh Cycle in Y211, the Paravians were dangerously poised to pursue their long-awaited Jihad; though the full extent of their ambitions remains to be seen.

-----

The ultimate evolution of the Vulpa insurgency, the Vulpa Confederacy rose out of the chaos of the Invasions era. With the pressures placed upon them by the Andromedans and Souldra, the Mæsrons eventually lost their ability to keep tabs on the rebellious Vulpa planets; using this breathing space (and benefiting from the apparent lack of interest the invaders had in attacking them directly), the Vulpa established their own Confederacy; which was open to welcoming new species into the fold, so long as each was made clear on exactly who was in charge. In the Seventh Cycle, the Confederacy expanded its borders; conquering the Nucian Cluster, defeating the Vari in a bitter war, and absorbing the Alunda forces driven from their home space by the Echarri Dynasty. The Alliance and Confederacy may be tense neighbours, but open conflict has been avoided for the time being; with the imminent Paravian and Echarri threats to consider, perhaps the wisest course woudl be for both sides to focus their destructive energies elsewhere.

-----

The most unusual new species to be noted is the Scon. Reported to be native to subspace, they have been driven insane by the rise of subspace communications. In order to oblige the empires on "our" plane of existence to quiet things down, they have struggled to develop a means of manifesting themselves in normal space... and in striking back at their unwitting tormentors.

-----

The same species encountered in the Alpha Octant and Lesser Magellanic Cloud, the inhabitants of the Jindarian Freehold do one thing differently from their nomadic brethren in other regions of space; maintain a permament holding which they are willing to defend in numbers to maintain. Exact details on what makes the Freehold so important to them has not been published; but in an article by Bruce Graw in an issue of Captain's Log from a while back, he suggested the working idea he had in mind when he first came up with the concept (that the area, for some reason, is devoid of rocky planets; but instead has dozens and dozens of prime asteroid belts which the Jindarians would treat as manna from heaven). Whether that concept survives any transition to formal publication remains to be seen; as would the question of whether or not the Freehold Jindarians actually need any new ships (as opposed to simply using a sub-set of the ones they can field in Alpha and the LMC already.)

-----

With all of that to consider, it should take a long time indeed to plumb the depths of the Omega Octant; and to make one's way through the many gaming possibilities thrown up by the various factions to be found there.

Fingers crossed, the first step into this neck of the galactic woods may be something worth considering for ACtA:SF (and Starline 2500) one day...
 
I made a few edits here and there:

*I added a link to Rick's take on the Omega faction emblems to the opening post;

*I added in an additional variant to the Mæsron CA (which was published in the same SFB module as the CBA variant);

and

*I put the Accentuation Cruiser in the Probr post; which should help with fine-tuning larger squadron operations if the Revolution ever gets televised, so to speak.

-----

Actually, it occurred to me that, in the case of the three main empires bordering the Wasteland, any would-be conversion process for them would allow for the return of a fire arc seen in the old B5 days; the boresight.


*For the Ymatrians, their antiproton beams would have F arcs as normal; but, their other heavy weapon, the antiproton lance, has the ability to double the damage scored by three other APBs in the same volley - but only along the front centreline of the ship. (If the Ymatrians are having trouble nailing down their opponents in this manner, the lance can also be fired as a regular antiproton beam with the standard arc; giving them a little more flexibility in their firing options.)

So, for them, a spinal lance used in lance mode would have a prow Boresight arc; which may say something about how that species likes to do business. (You can see what their CA looks like on the first page of preview pdf for the SFB Omega Master Rulebook; theirs is on top, the Iridani Galleon is in the middle, and the Souldra CA is on the bottom.)


*For the Worb, the mushroom-ish beings that swiped antiproton technology for their own use, they were able to adopt the spinal lance for their own use; but, in their case, they tied it in with their use of turrets.

For example, in SFB, if a Worb CA's forward turret is faced forward (in he FA arc), its lance would cover the direct line of hexes in front of the ship. However, if the turret were to be turned to the LF+L arc (or the RF+R arc), the lance would then work in the direct line of hexes to the upper-left hex line (or the upper-right, if the turret is turned the other way).

So, in ACtA:SF, were the Worb to be given some sort of rule governing turret use, their lances would have the standard boresight arc if faced forward; but would need ones showing what happens if the turrets were turned one way or another. (Which could be along the F/P and F/S arc boundaries, or directly to P or S, depending on how far the turrets were made to turn.)


*For the robotic Drex, they have no antiproton technology to operate; but they do have their light and heavy hypercannons to deal with.

In SFB, light hypercannons are restricted to 60-degree fire arcs; LF and RF being the most common. (Drex PFs have their lights limited even further, and use mauler fire arcs instead). However, heavy hypercannons are also restricted to one of six direct lines of hexes stemming from the ship's own hex; they can fire off of this line, but with a to-hit penalty. (Indeed, one quixotic design, the Hex Cruiser, has one heavy in each of the six potential fire arcs! Truly a jack of all arcs, but a master of none.)

For the ship-mounted lights, abstracting them into 90-degree arcs may not be too much of an issue; turning two LF and two RF mounts from one game into 4 AD in the F arc in another, and so on. However, the need for boresight arcs might crop up here for the heavies (and for the lights mounted on gunboats, were attrition units to be considered); not least in order to handle awkward units like the Hex Cruiser.

(If the port and starboard boresights were to be abstracted into a common arc to P or S, that might give the Hex Cruiser more of a broad-siding punch than it has in SFB; but, if there were separate arcs for the F/A/P/S arc boundaries, it might get a little fiddly in terms of how to detail each arc for game use.)

And in any case, whatever boresight arcs were used for the Drex should probably be made to match those in place for the Worb, and vice versa; since they would directly overlap.


Still, none of those three empires would need to be worried about any time soon. Although, in terms of where I (for what it's worth) might place them in terms of development, I would recommend putting them in the third wave of development, behind the five current playtest empires, and a second wave showing the Koligahr and Vari; but perhaps further in the queue than some of the other, perhaps trickier-to-translate historical match-ups (Hivers/Alunda/Branthodons, Loriyill/Singers/Souldra, etc) that are out there for potential consideration.

(Not that these empires would need to be matched up in that way at all; but, given how new the Octant would be to a lot of people, I for one feel that offering as many strong regional rivalries together, the way that FC does for the Alpha Octant, would be a good way to highlight the best of what the setting can offer, as opposed to simply approaching the various fleets based on what number they are listed under in the SFB Omega R-sections.)
 
In the wake of the revised Scout function rules, I've made the following edits and clarifications to the data above:

*Ships using Scout functions can fire all of the "-3" phasers (wide-angle, quantum, radiation) with no penalty; any of the "-1" or "2" phasers can only be fired defensively.

*Short-range cannons, like anti-drones, can also be used by ships using Scout functions with no penalty.

*As with drones, tachyon missiles are limited to three ships per target per turn. Ships using Scout functions can fire TMs with no penalty; a scout using the Drone Control function (or, in this case, the "Tachyon Missile Control" function) can add their fire to a ship which has already had three other TM-armed ships targeting it, the same as Drone Control allows a drone-armed scout to do back in the Alpha Octant. However, only 1 Tachyon Missile Attack Die is lost per Jamming function; as opposed to the 2 AD per function for drones.

*Probr HEATs are not self-guided, but require the same kind of active seeking weapon control as drones; so no more than three ships can fire HEATs at the same target in the same turn. (And since ships cannot launch HEATs while using scout functions, there is no equivalent of Drone Control to allow a scout armed with HEATs to add themselves as a fourth ship.)


Does any of that seem reasonable enough?
 
In case anyone is interested in doing up the old Terran hulls (CL and POL) from the Starline 2500 series to match their counterparts in the Federal Republic of Aurora (the CL and FF), I was able to commission a set of "FRA custom" decal sheets from the guys at Tenneshington Decals; modified from the originals in order to represent the ships of the Auroran Navy.

The Auroran decals aren't too different from their Star Fleet (and Federation Police) originals. The engine banners are blue instead of red; the Star Fleet arrowhead on each is replaced by an Auroran star; the ship names are listed as "R.S.S.", for (Federal) Republic Star Ship, instead of "U.S.S."; the "NCC-" registry is replaced with the class designation, and includes a "leading zero" on numbers lower than 10 (a custom which Star Fleet does not use); and each decal includes a miniature FRA flag (of the kind shown here) to use on the hull.

(The specific ships I have on order are the light cruiser CL-05 RSS Andoria, the frigate FF-08 RSS Bremen, and the frigate escort FFE-01 RSS Hessen; all ships which were part of the Auroran fleet that fought the first key battle for control of the Aurora system in Y149. There isn't much of an official ship name-plus-registry list around just yet, however; so while the ship names are "real", don't take those registry numbers as gospel just yet.)

While the guys have the new custom banners on file, they won't be adding them to the individual sheet section of their web site. While they can be ordered, they will essentially be "off the menu" items only; so you'll have to specifically ask for them to be added to your order.

So, if anyone is looking to kit their Terran hulls out for use in the Omega Octant, now's your chance!
 
My own FRA decals arrived in the post yesterday! Hopefully, once the actual minis they are intended to go on (which are on order at the moment) arrive, I won't mess things up when it comes to actually applying them.

(If things turn out well enough, I may try to post pics of the minis with the decals applied to them.)

One thing to note for anyone considering a set for themselves; as it stands, the "white" on the FRA flags that come on the sheet is, in fact, "clear"; the current print setup for the decals doesn't allow for them to be given a white background. While that may change if Tenneshington get a new printer, for now Tony has suggested that one should simply paint the portion of the hull where the flag is set to go white; so that, even if the rest of the hull is a different colour, the overall effect will be the same.
 
The ideal solution is to purchase a printer that is capable of underprinting in white. ALPS made several models that were very good at this (and even licensed the tech to Citizen who made two or three models). Unfortunately, production of all of these models has been discontinued.
We are currently searching for a working MD5500 (and as soon as one comes up, we will purchase it). This will allow for the production of FRA decals, as well as decals for every other empire out there.
The only other option is a 4-color process printer as is used by most major publishers and those run into the 10's of thousands of dollars. I don't think we'll sell enough decals to justify that expense.
Unless we can convince Scoutdad to buy decals for all his miniatures... wait, never mind. He'd just want a bulk discount.
 
(Most of) this set arrived in the post today!

CL46haul.jpg


Alongside the large-print (10-point, as opposed to the standard 9-point) edition of Captain's Log #45, there are Starline 2500 versions of the Fed New Fast Cruiser, Light Cruiser, and Police Cutters (which come 2 to a pack); the Orion Raider Cruiser; and the Romulan FastHawk.

The NCF and FFH are intended to stay in the Alpha Octant; the other four minis will (eventually) be set up to serve in the Federal Republic of Aurora over in the Omega Octant.

Also, in the envelope above the magazine, there are sets of decals from Tenneshington Decals for the Fed minis.

The NCF's decals are for Star Fleet; though the hull registry is actually for the NCC-1382 Simón Bolívar, a ship that had served as a (new) fast light cruiser instead. If Mongoose ever do a proper NLF mini, I can use the decals for that ship; otherwise, if I don't make an attempt to convert the NCF into an NLF myself, I may simply consider this ship to be what the Bolívar might have looked like had it been upgraded to an NCF during its service life.

For the others, the custom FRA decals noted above will allow them to serve as the CL Andoria, the FF Bremen and the FFE Hessen. All three ships served in a key battle in Y149, that helped establish the Republic's independence from encroachment by the silicate Trobrin Empire. (Once again, the FRA custom decals are considered to be "off the menu" items; if you want to order them, you have to ask for them specifically when making your order.)

I can't guarantee how long it might take to actually get some paint on these minis, though; let alone apply those decals. But, I'll try not to leave it too long before I do...
 
In light of the new rules posted in Fleet Update #1, I made a few edits.

*The Mæsron CLE has had its stats slightly adjusted, in order to bring it into line with the escort cruisers shown in the new file.

*So far as weapons go, should the Escort Trait be re-written to allow for ADD use at some point, it would then (at that point) also allow short-range cannon use, too. (Ironically, by the time the FRA developed the Aegis fire control system, their frigate and destroyer escorts had mostly seen their SRCs taken out and replaced by ESGs...) As it stands, since drones are currently allowed to use the Escort Trait, so too should tachyon missiles. There is no IT nor HEAT equivalent to the Alpha Octant plasma-D, so neither torpedo type would be available for this role.

*Unlike in the Alpha Octant, the Aegis fire control system was not universally adopted in Omega. For several decades, only the robotic Drex had Aegis, it being one of the many advantages provided by their extensive use of ship-mounted supercomputers. While several other empires did build escort vessels of their own, they had to make do without Aegis initially. When Aegis filtered out to other empires in Y194, some powers who hadn't bothered with an escort before (like the Iridani) started to field Aegis-equipped vessels. Of those empires who had already built pre-Aegis escorts, only some (such as the Mæsrons and FRA) went back and installed it into their older escorts, while the rest (like the Probr) preferred to keep it on newer escort ships instead. And in some cases (like the Trobrin), Aegis was not adopted at all. (In SFB terms, the "Aegis" in this case is limited Aegis; no Omega empire has yet been shown to develop full Aegis.) So, while there would be a number of escort ships that could be ported over, not all of them would necessarily get the Escort Trait.

*None of the five current empires need to worry about the Shock (Weapon) X Trait, but it will be a factor for one of the other Omega powers out there; the Ymatrians. (That species was so reckless in their starship designs that all of their command variant hulls were subject to shock. Even their fighters risked tearing themselves apart if they fired all of their weapons!)

*The FRA has a lone Orion CR, the Throne of Ozymondas. Any entry for that ship should include the Unique Trait, since it was a one-of-a-kind vessel in the Omega Octant.
 
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